Warner Brothers is coming out with a new movie on July 8 starring Jennifer Aniston. Sure, there are a bunch of other famous names in the line up. But, hey -- Jennifer Aniston.

Anyway, the title of the movie is Horrible Bosses which seems timely to me as I have been witnessing an abundance of substandard business management of late. And until the American voters mature beyond their current flirtation with soft tyranny, I dont believe that our nation can afford such ineffectual management.

Remember the 1980s when good business management became pop culture? That decade gave us Ken Blanchards The One Minute Manager and Stephen Coveys The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. These neat philosophies provided widespread benefits due to their succinctness and popularity.

Today's popluar culture would have you believe that if you can't beat 'em , then go golfing.

I built my own model for good management during my days of working for Fortune 500 companies in the 80s and 90s. And I don't golf.

My goal was to capture the practices of successful managers I worked for, as well as to avoid any semblance of the neanderthals who ultimately prompted me to start my own company. I have made just one significant addition to the basic tenets over the past twenty years.

I am sharing that theory here, with invitations for your management wisdom. I believe strongly that Americans must be great managers to compete well on the international stage.

To begin with, I do not believe that supervising positions should be a promotional reward; Rather, management authority should only be assigned to those well-qualified for the role. A technical track should also be established for promotions that do not necessarily involve supervising.

A jackass manager makes for miserable employees. And low morale in the workplace has a negative effect on productivity and company reputation. The list of requirements for a supervising position should include the attributes of being knowledgeable, inspirational, respectful, approachable, and honorable. A good manager should also be able to determine the difference between behavior challenges and psychological challenges in their employees.

The manager should maintain what I call the Four Pillars:

Pillar I: Clear Direction. Communicate the desired outcome with measurable results and schedules. Understand the outside dependencies that your employees will have because that is where they will need you to support them with your authority.

Pillar II: Willingness to Delegate. It always seems easier, faster, and simpler to accomplish tasks on your own. But by establishing a culture of delegation, employees learn to anticipate company needs and to proactively engage. The manager can then focus on the process and on looking ahead.

Pillar III: Authority = Responsibility. The order here is very important. The manager must judge what the employee is capable of. One employee may be entrusted with delivering a proposal on time while another can be given the responsibility of operating an entire division of the company. Having assessed their capability, first assign the responsibility, then match that responsibility with equivalent authority.

Pillar IV: Sufficient Resources. This will vary based on each employees skill set and resourcefulness. The list of resources typically includes time, equipment, supplies, training, and funding. Your more self-reliant employees will find ways to accomplish tasks with scarce resources.

While the classic reason for having employees is to cover the volume of work, there is a higher reason; one of appreciating the gifts that good people bring to a company. I call it accomplishing great things through the aspirations of others. For me, the joy of management is seeing a project completed in a manner that is beyond what I ever could have imagined.

Pillar IV: Sufficient Resources. This will vary based on each employees skill set and resourcefulness. The list of resources typically includes time, equipment, supplies, training, and funding. Your more self-reliant employees will find ways to accomplish tasks with scarce resources.

Which I assume to mean that I shouldn't have to be purchasing printer ink, internet protection, toilet paper, and file backup for the office out of my own meager paycheck. Oh, and I should assume that said paycheck will be able to be cashed on the date previously set-up.

any ideas on how to deal with the slaggards that are not called upon to do their part? Yeesh, I know, life isn’t fair, but soemtimes it gets ridiculous.

I will write a tactful, fact based,memo Monday to my boss requesting more assistance from others on the staff. Shaming them hasn’t worked, the slaggards are just outraged that they are being called upon to pick up their share of the work..ha.

7
posted on 06/19/2011 7:34:23 AM PDT
by Recovering Ex-hippie
(where is the Great Santini when we need him??)

I have my own business management theory based on another movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Managers need brains, heart, and courage to guide their employees, to keep them safe from the witches and flying monkeys (marauding managers and useless employees), and to stand up to the Wizards of upper management when they demand ridiculous things (such as diversity quotas) or make bad decisions.

10
posted on 06/19/2011 7:50:08 AM PDT
by LibFreeOrDie
(Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)

“And low morale in the workplace has a negative effect on productivity and company reputation. “

It is amazing to me how often management is incoherent to that fact. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because the cost of moral can’t easily be put into black and white like pinching nickels and pennies can. Or maybe it’s because some managers are too proud to admit when things could have been done much better. Like leadership is sticking with a bad decision instead of re-visiting a bad decision. There’s no respect lost for a manager who is able and willing to make a bad decision right. But re-visiting a bad decision seems to be avoided at all costs - weird. I’m a Union Unit president and shouldn’t have to teach management the most basic people realtions skills and that practicing those skills as managers pays dividends in employee moral - dividends that without a doubt have a positive effect the company’s bottom line. It comes down to what should be common sense, the golden rule, or “The No Asshole Rule”.

“And low morale in the workplace has a negative effect on productivity and company reputation. “

It is amazing to me how often management is incoherent to that fact. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because the cost of moral can’t easily be put into black and white like pinching nickels and pennies can. Or maybe it’s because some managers are too proud to admit when things could have been done much better. Like leadership is sticking with a bad decision instead of re-visiting a bad decision. There’s no respect lost for a manager who is able and willing to make a bad decision right. But re-visiting a bad decision seems to be avoided at all costs - weird. I’m a Union Unit president and shouldn’t have to teach management the most basic people realtions skills and that practicing those skills as managers pays dividends in employee moral - dividends that without a doubt have a positive effect the company’s bottom line. It comes down to what should be common sense, the golden rule, or “The No Asshole Rule”.

Perfectly describes my very first boss in the '80s... he was a nasty little man which everyone was scared of.

I had one of those bosses early in my working life. The climate of fear was so extreme that it was beyond absurd. Cowering employees never knew when they'd become the random targets of his wrath. The jerk preyed upon the weak, so I decided early on that it was best to project a different image. Unlike every one else who ran and hid or attempted to become invisible in their cubicles whenever he came through the door, I made it a point to look like I was doing absolutely nothing. They were rushing to hide their snacks and magazines; I intentionally popped open a can of Coke and clicked on the TV. He would bristle through the door; I would greet him cheerfully. Freaked him out, lol. Of course I knew my work was in perfect order - every i dotted and t crossed, just in case. He never once challenged me. I worked in peace. :)

14
posted on 06/19/2011 9:00:21 AM PDT
by Ezekiel
(The Obama-nation began with the Inauguration of Desolation.)

“Pillar II: Willingness to Delegate - This is too often used to hide indolence, indifference and incompetence.”

Unfortunately, some bosses have discovered the trick of using delegation as a method for disguising indolence, indifference and incompetence. I’ve seen folks say “do project X and get back to me” to underlings, then ridicule the staff for doing it at all, or for doing it in a way that made sense given the delegation but didn’t work in hindsight. This is something the more slimy supervisors have learned from politicians—cya by handing it off to a third party, and then you can claim credit or blast the results because it’s not your baby.

Liberals know how powerful video media is. Just ask the libs with agendas in their movies and tv shows.

If the libs treated the Hollywood tripe being generated for the masses as hard as legal gun owners, they’d be screaming to government not to allow this movie to be shown, because it is going to result in millions of people murdering their bosses.

Truly that would be the liberal response to this if they were consistent.

17
posted on 06/19/2011 8:42:38 PM PDT
by Secret Agent Man
(I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)

So don't expect people to take responsibility for areas outside their authority. If half of your employee's time it taken up with monitoring other departments to see that they are doing their job then you have a problem and it is not with the employee.

My boss called it, "follow through". It was stupid because, guess what, the other departments never improved. Why should they? I checked everything they did every step of the way and sent countless e-mails badgering, reminding and pointing out errors. They hated me. Their managers hated me. I had no authority to do anything to them except annoy them and my boss refused to take it up with their higher ups.

No one in upper management wanted to hear that the process that they had invested millions in was seriously flawed.

The day I left was not the happiest day of my life but it was in the top ten.

20
posted on 06/19/2011 9:10:46 PM PDT
by Harmless Teddy Bear
(Yesterday I meditated, today I seek balance. That was Zen, this is Tao.)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.